Cytek shoes

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nat_a_528

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HI guys

Just had cyteks put on my Tb mare,

Since having it done I have heard awful things about them !!
Should i remove them

Has anyone had any experiences with them , good or bad??

Please let me know as I am really worrying[/B]
 
What awful things have you heard? I had them a few years ago, and had lots of comments asking why I'd had them, and everyone thought they were a bit odd.... but nothing really negative. My farrier switched to doing only cytek shoes, and as he'd corrected some damage done by a previous farrier, and had always been so good, I went with it. They were fine. I moved area, and current farrier now uses normal shoes without a toe clip, which seems to do the job just as well to be honest.
 
Cytek are IMO bordering on cruelty. They are cast iron shoes, that cannot be shaped to fit the foot. Instead the foot is dressed back to fit the shoe.

The theory behind them is that all pedal bones are the same shape, therefore all hooves are the same shape, and if the hoof doesnt fit the shoe (which is supposed to be the 'correct' shape), it is because the hoof has an imbalance, and needs to be forced into the cytek shape.
 
I tried Cytek shoes for a mare of mine that had been diagnosed with navicular and had been operated on and had failed to return becaome sound. I had them put on after exhuasting other alternatives such as natural balance and my farrier had followed vet schools instructions re shoeing to the letter for at least a year. It was very sad as when the other horses had a loon she would bob along round the field. After having the cyteks on she was sound within a week her action was far less stuffy after being lame for the best part of 2 years. Whilst she was sound I was able to do occasional light hacks just walking on nice days -something which she seemed to enjoy as she had basicly gone from competing to a lawmower prior to this. However after about a year even these shoes didnt work for her and she went lame again and I was advised to call it a day but I do think for her the cyteks helped her be more comfortable for a while. She owed me nothing. The way her feet were trimmed was only just slightly different to how the vet school wanted it in actual fact they wanted her toe cut back.
 
Tell that to my horse !!

Hes been in cyteks for 7 years since being diagnosed with Caudal heel pain and having exhausted all other type of rim shoes with the country's leading farriers all having a go.

My horse was sound as soon as the shoes went on. My vet was so negative that he did a free set of xrays to prove that the shoe wasnt correcting the reverse tilt of the pedal bone.. and had to eat his words when he was proved wrong.

My horse broke his leg last summer and thank god he was in Cyteks as he stood in those shoes for 12 weeks without a problem. (He is normally shod every 5 weeks without fail ). The fact that the shoe loads the sole was paramount in his support whilst standing x-tied for 6 weeks.

So, cruel ? Certainly not !
 
Personally I view Cytek shoes as a remedial option to be used when a problem exists, rather than an every day shoe. My TB had them for a year when we'd exhausted other options. He was struggling to keep shoes on, needed silicone gel pads (which in turn were causing his shoes to come off), and was on/off lame. He had been diagnosed with collateral ligament damage. After talks with my farrier and vet we tried Cyteks. They worked for us a short term option whilst his feet recovered. They offered more protection for his sole and allowed us to go longer between shoeings hence allowing more hoof growth. I think done by the right farrier in the right circumstances they are a very useful tool.
 
The most negative things I've hear about Cytek come from an ex Cytek farrier. Not keen on the idea of making the foot fit the shoe rather than the other way around, but I do see a lot of it - not just with Cytek - but the effects may be more extreme with Cytek because of their shape.
 
I've also experienced the excessive heel trimming practice - by a farrier. My rock crunchingly sound horse was lamed for ages, although she grew foot really fast which helped. I dread to think how long she would have been lame if she hadn't down so much quality foot at the rate she did.
 
My horse was crippled by the main man himself... The LAST time he saw him he didn't even watch my horse walk back to the stable.

He SHUFFLED back to the stable - it was heart wrenching to see. :(

I struggled to get any of the farriers on the yard to touch him. The main thing they were citing was the possibility of stress hairline fractures in the pasterns.

I eventually bit the bullet and made the decision for him to be barefoot...
 
I am shocked... I cannot speak highly enough of cytek. Or of "bill the butcher" LOL

Cytek not only prevents dieseases of the hoof but also cures them. I have had horses shod with cytek, by bill, who have had problems sorted out. I had an WB who over reached, brushed and was pigeon toed. Cytek cured all of these in a very short space of time. The same horse also hit a stone when on a hack cantering ( so hard it dented the shoe) and if he had not have had these on he would have punctured his sole, but luckily he came back from that hack sound.

I have a welsh d who had white line disease barefoot and as soon as the shoe was put on his cracks stopped and so did the chipping. He is a lot happier in himself and is much more relaxed but under saddle and in hand.

I also have a mare shod with cytek, she was shod all round with traditional before bill got her, she had no visable problems with these shoes on, but being a big cytek believer i converted her. The change was amazing. We call them "go faster shoes" as the horses move do much more freely. She could now jump like never before and actually look like she enjoyed it. She did her first clear round in a long time! And her shoes lasted now, she used to be terrible and holding onto her shoes.

As for comments like minnie i think they reflect uneducated or miseducated people, and ultimately its the horses i feel sorry for. I would strongly recommend you call bill or e mail for a chat, i know he cares a lot for the welfare of all horses and would be more than happy to explain the cytek method.

Or perhaps attend a semimar or leg disection so you can see first hand the dangers of rim shoeing and traditional trimming..

Please pm me if u want more details xx
 
I totally agree with Sambo's comments. I can't recommend Bill and cytek's highly enough.

I have 2 out of my 3 horses currently shod in cytek and my third is booked in the be cytek shod on the fronts and cytek trimmed on the hinds.

The difference in my two that are currently shod cytek from traditional shoeing is unreal. My 16.2hh TB who had typical tb feet that would hardly hold a shoe for 4 weeks, suffered bruised soles, brushed and had a short stride is now holding shoes for 8 weeks, no longer suffers with previous aliments mentioned and has a lovely long floating stride. He has started to enjoy his work and started jumping again. My 14.3hh, 22yr mare has gone from suffering with bruised soles and short stride to longer stride, no bruised feet and enjoying working life again. I have followed traditional farriers advice in the past when they have recommended different shoes such as Epona's or shoes with quarter clips on the front feet to help keep the shoes on, some of these have helped short term and cost a fair amount.

All the horses on my current yard are cytek shod or trimmed. Before I had my horses shod/trimmed the cytek way I did my own research, I found good and bad comments about cyteks, I witnessed Bill carrying out cytek shoeings and trimmings and he has always been willing to answer any questions that I have asked and explained everything in detail. I also asked my old traditional farrier about cyteks to which he informed me that they were a fad, funny thing that a fad has lasted for over a decade. I will never have my horses traditional shod or trimmed again.

I have attended a leg disection where I was reminded of what I had been taught when studying for my BHSAI 16 years, yet people forget or discard this information/knowledge when it comes to traditional shoeingtrimming. How many traditional farriers can carry out a leg disection, explain and show you the damage that incorrect/traditional shoeing/trimming can cause to a horse. We all know the saying 'No Foot, No Horse'.
 
I don't doubt that there are other practitioners who take pride in their "craft" and show concern for the horses welfare. I can only comment on the care - or lack of, that Warwick showed to my horse.

I only wish I had spoken up at the time, but I was more concerned for getting my horse back to his stable and making him comfortable. I think I was in shock and Warwick, by that time had made a very swift exit! :( Odd that...
 
cyteck shoes... yet another machine made shoe to fit a live breathing animal. get a farrier that can make a shoe to suit your horse! good farriers will assess your horse and fit shoes accordingly. if special/remedial shoes are req then get your farrier to make them for him/his needs not buy them out of the box! there are many machine made shoes that suit 75% of horses if you drop into the other 25% then handmade especially for your horse are much better!
 
Tried it, farrier made an awful mess of my horses feet. I do have to acknowledge that this was one cytek farrier but it was such an awful experience I would never look at that route again.
 
from the cytek website....

''One of the paradoxes when you change from regular shoes to Cytek is that the horse goes through an adaptation period that can last from anything from a couple of days to weeks. Symptoms that are commonly observed but that go away after a couple of weeks include muscle soreness, mild swellings around the fetlock joints without overt lameness and general stiffness.
These symptoms relate to the postural changes the horse is adapting to and responds very well to veterinary physiotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractics.''

Anything that does this to a horse cannot be a good thing!!
 
I used Cytek shoes to help my barefoot horse overcome a mysterious period of lameness when the vet could not diagnose the cause and handed care over to my farrier.

He is sound and barefoot again now and I have kept the shoes in case they are needed again. My horse prefers to be barefoot and from much of the literature and studies I have read over the years, I certainly believe Cytek shoes are the lesser of the two evils both in it's design and function. However hammering a nail into a sensitive foot ... it can so easily go wrong. I believe the traditional shoeing method is just as risky and has the propensity to cause damage and lameness. Having seen an x-ray of the position of the nail along the white line it does not leave much margin for error !! Also you are introducing bacteria into an enclosed sterile hoof capsule via the nail for starters !

Shoes can be useful to assist certain anatomical conditions but I would not consider them for long term use. In my experience, I have my doubts, I have seen far too many bad feet on shod horses then good feet.

Before making a decision do some research. The horse's foot is a fascinating and clever structure.
 
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Laura1812 said:
from the cytek website....

''One of the paradoxes when you change from regular shoes to Cytek is that the horse goes through an adaptation period that can last from anything from a couple of days to weeks. Symptoms that are commonly observed but that go away after a couple of weeks include muscle soreness, mild swellings around the fetlock joints without overt lameness and general stiffness.
These symptoms relate to the postural changes the horse is adapting to and responds very well to veterinary physiotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractics.''

Anything that does this to a horse cannot be a good thing!!
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Laura1812, you seem to be such a smart person, please tell me how come the majority of the lame horses in the world use regular rim shoes?

Just think of all the millions of horses that end up crippled because the rim shoes they are wearing are not intended for horses.
You may want to focus on this rather unfortunate reality before talking nonsense about things it appears you have very little knowledge of.
 
HYS said:
how come the majority of the lame horses in the world use regular rim shoes? I would be interested to know the proportion of sound and lame horses when comparing different types of shoes and barefoot/unshod. Also how would you take lameness caused by other factors (eg horse runs into a fence and injures itself) into account?

Just think of all the millions of horses that end up crippled because the rim shoes they are wearing are not intended for horses. So what animal were rim shoes designed for?
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..............
 
Why would you want to make a horse that is 'comfortable' in whatever he is or isn't wearing on his feet, shoe him with a cytek shoe and watch him develop ''muscle soreness, mild swellings around the fetlock joints without overt lameness and general stiffness.
These symptoms relate to the postural changes the horse is adapting to and responds very well to veterinary physiotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractics.''

Now, one would assume that the horse was sound and comfortable in the first place for him to develop these symptoms - I merely asked, why would you then want to change his posture to this extent?

HYS - You seem very defensive, almost aggressive in your manner for someone that has just appeared on the board. How am I being smart? I have simply copied some text from the Cytek website and questioned it - how is that talking nonsense? It is also very bold of you to assume I know nothing about the Cytek shoeing method from one small post!

In response to you I would say most people use a rim shoe in its various forms because it works for them and their horses - if it didn't, no-one would use them and we would be having this discussion right now. The majority of lame horses are shod in rim shoes because the overall majority of shod horses, lame or not, wear rim shoes.
 
MinnieDuke said:
Subsequently I have looked more into the method and there are two things I disagree with - if you take the picture http://www.cytekhorse.com/home4.html - and draw what would be the natural lines on the hoof along the ground and from the coronet band to where it would meet with the bottom of the foot - you get quite an unatural looking foot - since lopping the toe off you get a false impression of the foot - From the pictire it looks like it would be like walking with a pair of shoes that dont quite reach the end of my toes, despite cutting of the ends of my toes off. I cant imagine either someone cutting the ends of my toes of to fit the shoes and I can't imagine why you'd walk in shoes that doesnt reach your toes. Doenst seem natural - It also seems bizarre that they do not fit the shoe to the horse
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The shoes are this way because a barefoot horse in hard work does not load its foot right to the toe. The breakover point is just in front of the frog, where the pedal bone sits. Cytek shoes aim to mimic that breakover point, as do natural balance rim shoes.

One big problem with shoeing this way is that if the horse has thin soles and the pedal bone is close to the surface, it may bear directly onto the shoe and lame the horse.
 
tommy30 said:
Cytek are IMO bordering on cruelty. They are cast iron shoes, that cannot be shaped to fit the foot. Instead the foot is dressed back to fit the shoe.

The theory behind them is that all pedal bones are the same shape, therefore all hooves are the same shape, and if the hoof doesnt fit the shoe (which is supposed to be the 'correct' shape), it is because the hoof has an imbalance, and needs to be forced into the cytek shape.
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Cruel - what absolute tosh! Yet more unthinking rubbish spoken about the Cytek shoeing system. Consider this - your skeleton is the same shape as anyone elses' - including the bones in your feet. If you have arthritis, an injury or a deformity to your foot such as a bunion this will show on your bones. Your foot may be a different size, but are your bones a different shape - No, barring injury etc.. Do human shoes come in different shapes??????????
Cytek shoes come in different sizes - they fit the pedal bone - the hoof itself can definitely vary in shape. This is because it is deformed. The hoof is made of a similar material to our toenails - we cut these to keep their shape. Hoof walls get distorted by disease, incorrect shoeing etc... It is the pedal bone that's the important thing and Cytek shoes fit the pedal bone, the distorted 'nail' around it is trimmed and over time it will grow into a healthy shape.

If you want to talk about cruel - take a look at some of the remedial shoes, sports shoes and other contraptions that some farriers and vets put on a horse's feet.
 
I have known Bill for many years and this post stinks. He has shod both my horses over the years and the reason I changed to him in the first place was because I was struck by his care, his professionalism and his commonsense when it comes to horses.

If you are so scared to sue him MinnieDuke because of the very serious rumours you are spreading why have you got your address and a link straight to your Fairview livery yard??? My advice - if you think you've got a case, go for it.

'Cutting a horse's toes off' - What on earth are you talking about? - if you cut your finger nails are you cutting your fingers off!
 
Marchtime said:
Personally I view Cytek shoes as a remedial option to be used when a problem exists, rather than an every day shoe. My TB had them for a year when we'd exhausted other options. He was struggling to keep shoes on, needed silicone gel pads (which in turn were causing his shoes to come off), and was on/off lame. He had been diagnosed with collateral ligament damage. After talks with my farrier and vet we tried Cyteks. They worked for us a short term option whilst his feet recovered. They offered more protection for his sole and allowed us to go longer between shoeings hence allowing more hoof growth. I think done by the right farrier in the right circumstances they are a very useful tool.
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Sorry - this is barmy. Your horse is crippled and you had 'exhausted other options'. You find a shoeing system that your horse likes, that allows you to go longer between shoeings. Great!!!

Oh, just a minute - he's absolutely comfortable now so I'll go back to the kind of shoeing that crippled him in the first place!!!

Strange logic.
 
I have tried Cytek, will never again, it was to improve his movement, he trips a lot and is very choppy in trott. I did not like the fact that the foot was made to fit the shoe. He went lame with them, and they did not stay on long at all.

We now have normal shoes with no clips on the fronts, meaning that he rolls his own hooves naturally.

Barge and pole, comes to mind! sorry
 
LucyPriory said:
The most negative things I've hear about Cytek come from an ex Cytek farrier. Not keen on the idea of making the foot fit the shoe rather than the other way around, but I do see a lot of it - not just with Cytek - but the effects may be more extreme with Cytek because of their shape.
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Just as well he's a EX cytek farrier if he thinks he's making the foot fit the shoe.
 
CrazyFriesian said:
My horse was crippled by the main man himself... The LAST time he saw him he didn't even watch my horse walk back to the stable.

He SHUFFLED back to the stable - it was heart wrenching to see. :(

I struggled to get any of the farriers on the yard to touch him. The main thing they were citing was the possibility of stress hairline fractures in the pasterns.

I eventually bit the bullet and made the decision for him to be barefoot...
Click to expand...

I think you're talking about a ginger haired farrier so you'll be relieved to know he was got rid of and now I believe does very little shoeing.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
cyteck shoes... yet another machine made shoe to fit a live breathing animal. get a farrier that can make a shoe to suit your horse! good farriers will assess your horse and fit shoes accordingly. if special/remedial shoes are req then get your farrier to make them for him/his needs not buy them out of the box! there are many machine made shoes that suit 75% of horses if you drop into the other 25% then handmade especially for your horse are much better!
Click to expand...

Do please get your facts straight - don't you realise that nearly all farriers use 'machine made shoes'.

It doesn't matter how 'hand-made, bespoke, made to measure whatever....' your horses shoes are - if they don't fit, they don't fit and your horse is going to suffer. You're buying horseshoes, not a Savile Row suit and if you think a hand made shoe that follows the distorted shape of your horse's hoof is good, because it's hand made, I feel very sad.
 
Laura1812 said:
from the cytek website....

''One of the paradoxes when you change from regular shoes to Cytek is that the horse goes through an adaptation period that can last from anything from a couple of days to weeks. Symptoms that are commonly observed but that go away after a couple of weeks include muscle soreness, mild swellings around the fetlock joints without overt lameness and general stiffness.
These symptoms relate to the postural changes the horse is adapting to and responds very well to veterinary physiotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractics.''

Anything that does this to a horse cannot be a good thing!!
Click to expand...

So if you're recovering from an illness, an operation - or even a workout at the gym you never get stiff? If you're talking about a horse that's been fixed in uncomfortable, painful shoes for perhaps many years, their muscles etc.. will have adapted to that disfunctional way of going. If you put comfortable foot wear on, they're going to change their way of going - therefore they will have a period of adjustment whilst their musculate adapts. Why is that in anyway disturbing??
 
Laura1812 said:
Why would you want to make a horse that is 'comfortable' in whatever he is or isn't wearing on his feet, shoe him with a cytek shoe and watch him develop ''muscle soreness, mild swellings around the fetlock joints without overt lameness and general stiffness.
These symptoms relate to the postural changes the horse is adapting to and responds very well to veterinary physiotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractics.''

Now, one would assume that the horse was sound and comfortable in the first place for him to develop these symptoms - I merely asked, why would you then want to change his posture to this extent?

HYS - You seem very defensive, almost aggressive in your manner for someone that has just appeared on the board. How am I being smart? I have simply copied some text from the Cytek website and questioned it - how is that talking nonsense? It is also very bold of you to assume I know nothing about the Cytek shoeing method from one small post!

In response to you I would say most people use a rim shoe in its various forms because it works for them and their horses - if it didn't, no-one would use them and we would be having this discussion right now. The majority of lame horses are shod in rim shoes because the overall majority of shod horses, lame or not, wear rim shoes.
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I probably sound aggressive too - because I'm sick of hearing so much rubbish spoken, from so little experience or commonsense when I know how beneficial these shoes are. Your lack of knowledge and experience sadly is self evident in your posting.
 
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